


Velvet Chokers & Chiffon Skirts

by strawberryredblush



Series: Salty Blood [1]
Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Consensual Blood Drinking, Dark Academia San, Hongjoong in skirts, Hongjoong is temporarily mute, Implied Smut, M/M, NOT a retelling of the little mermaid, Pastel Hongjoong, Sea Witch San, Strangers to Lovers, Unrealistic Situations, and unrealistic responses to said situations, goth seonghwa, goth x pastel trope, hongjoong implicitly trusts seonghwa simply because he's pretty, it is a little inspired by it though, mentions of yunsan, mermaid hongjoong, some of these tags pertain to the second chapter, spells gone awry kinda, vampire Seonghwa, will update tags once second chapter is published
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:28:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27317032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberryredblush/pseuds/strawberryredblush
Summary: Seonghwa took a deep breath of salty air as he started his nightly walk on the beach. Living right on the coast with a private beach only shared between two to three houses as a backyard definitely had its perks. The summer night -like most- was quiet, save for the chirping of crickets and the gentle lap of small waves against the shore. Today the moon is almost full and it’s in its light that Seonghwa first sees there’s something in the distance on the beach.He curiously squints his eyes trying to make out what it is. Even with his heightened senses all he can see is a white sheet with a lump underneath it, the lump indistinguishable. Deciding there was no harm in seeing what it was he walked over to check it out. He gets a shock when he sees just what that lump under the sheets is.
Relationships: Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa
Series: Salty Blood [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1994344
Comments: 2
Kudos: 44





	Velvet Chokers & Chiffon Skirts

**Author's Note:**

> WHEEEEEEEE HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
> 
> I finally finished this chapter after way too long working on it. It was supposed to by the end of September but I got kinda ill? So then I decided to hopefully finish by Halloween because it kind of fits the theme don't you think? And I did!!
> 
> Currently outlining the second chapter I don't know when it'll be done but hopefully it won't take me as long as this did even it is going to be a longer word count. This chapter is just mainly them meeting each other all the gross accidental flirting is mainly relegated to the second chapter but this one is a super cute meet cute so don't just decide to wait for the next chapter if you've opened this already. (｀Д´)
> 
> Anyway hope you enjoy!!

Seonghwa took a deep breath of salty air as he started his nightly walk on the beach. Living right on the coast with a private beach only shared between two to three houses as a backyard definitely had its perks. The summer night -like most- was quiet, save for the chirping of crickets and the gentle lap of small waves against the shore. Today the moon is almost full and it’s in its light that Seonghwa first sees there’s something in the distance on the beach. 

He curiously squints his eyes trying to make out what it is. Even with his heightened senses all he can see is a white sheet with a lump underneath it, the lump indistinguishable. Deciding there was no harm in seeing what it was he walked over to check it out. He gets a shock when he sees just what that lump under the sheets is. 

It was a body passed out (or at least that’s what he hoped, he really did not want to think of the other option) under the sheets. Though before his mind could spiral into worst case scenarios, he sees the rise and fall of the person’s chest. Now that he isn’t in panic over finding a possible dead body he properly focuses on seeing if he can identify who it is. 

With just one glance over of their face that wasn’t hidden under the sheet he could tell it wasn’t anybody he was familiar with. He could however tell that they were a guy and a very very pretty one with hair a candied cherry red and he can’t help but stare for a bit. Once he’s finally able to drag his eyes away from his pretty face he startles when he notices the white sheet is thin enough to tell that he’s naked underneath it. 

“Oh dear” he mumbles quickly averting his eyes from the way too detailed outline of his body and toward the ocean. He stood contemplating for a moment before deciding he needed to wake him up somehow to see if he needed help or if he just had some strange hobbies that included sleeping naked on a beach. 

He hunches down and flails for a moment not sure what to do before choosing to wake him up by gently shaking his shoulder and speaking to him. “Hey, are you okay?” 

The other starts to stir, his sigh of relief however is cut short when the second the other seems to sense his presence he suddenly latches onto his waist, causing him to fall onto his butt, the other’s small body half in his lap. However embarrassed he is to have someone very clearly naked clinging to him, it’s this event that finally gives him a hint to his identity. The other -still asleep- snuggles his face into his stomach and makes a happy trilling sound, whoever this is, is definitely not human. 

After struggling for a moment he finally dislodges the surprisingly strong grip from around his torso and decides to attempt to wake him up again. He finally succeeds in waking him by gently tapping his cheek with the palm of his hand, the redhead’s eyes flutter open though he appears still half asleep as he starts unconsciously leaning in closer to Seonghwa. Seonghwa holds him still before speaking up. 

“Are you okay? I found you here passed out on the beach behind my home. Do you need help?” The other’s eyes seem to clear of sleepiness the longer he talks until he looks around confusedly seeming to just realise where he is. 

“Did you hear me? Are you okay?” He gently asks again not wanting to frighten the other who finally seemed coherent. The other simply gives him a distracted nod still looking around though at least he finally sits up. 

“Do you need help?”

A pause. Then another nod.

Seonghwa nods back “Okay, I can help. Can you stand?” 

Another pause. This time a shake of his head.

It isn’t until now that Seonghwa realises something “Can you speak?” his eyes soften as he asks. 

The other shakes his head, a sad trilling sound accompanying the gesture. 

“That’s okay, we’ll keep it to simple yes or no questions. Oh but I need your name,” Seonghwa cups his chin and looks up as he thinks. “Well I’m guessing since you can understand me you know my language?”

A nod.

“Can you write in it?” 

He gestures so-so with his hands. 

“Can you at least write your name?” 

The other seems excited at realising what he’s hinting at and claps before writing down his name in the sand. 

Hongjoong, the shakily written letters in the sand say. 

“Well Hongjoong, care to properly wrap yourself in that sheet so I can carry you and still keep your modesty?” 

Hongjoong nods and fidgets with the sheet, showing that he definitely isn’t lying about being unable to stand as he’s barely able to lift himself to his knees to get the sheet under his butt before his thighs start to quiver and he falls back down. He lets out a huff but snuggles into the sheet to show he’s done. Seonghwa chuckles and scoops him up. 

“I’m not holding you awkwardly am I?” 

A shake of the head. 

“You comfortable?” 

Hongjoong answers by wrapping his arms around his neck, relaxing against his chest completely and letting out a happy chirp. 

Seonghwa is surprised by how calm and easygoing Hongjoong has been this entire time but decides to just continue going along with it. 

“My house is just a short walk from here, once we get there you can take a bath. I’m sure laying in the sand for an unknown amount of time has left you with sand in a lot of uncomfortable places.”

Hongjoong nods and pouts, letting out a sad trill. 

Seonghwa laughs at how endearing he is and they continue their walk until he sees Hongjoong tilt his head to the side out of the corner of his eye. He turns his head slightly to face him and tilts his head in return, raising his eyebrow in question. 

He startles and pauses when Hongjoong unlatches his arms from around his neck and pokes his lips. Curious to what’s caught his attention he just watches as Hongjoong -with a furrow in between his brows- gently pulls his bottom lip down. He’s about to laugh at how transfixed he looks only to almost choke when Hongjoong uses one finger to keep his lip down and sticks another into his mouth and pokes at one of his fangs. The shock has him kind of frozen but when Hongjoong makes a questioning noise while continuing to tap his fang, he figures he’s got an idea what he’s asking. 

“I’m a vampire, I’m not sure if you know what that is but I have fangs -those are what those sharp teeth are called- because I need them to feed,” His speech is slurred, speaking while someone has a finger to your tooth is hard to say the least. 

He’s in for another shock when Hongjoong shakes his head, finally removes his hand from his mouth and shows his own teeth which -while not razor sharp- are all pointed. Seonghwa realises he was asking why he only had two sharp teeth not why he had any at all. He surmises that whatever Hongjoong is, he must be carnivorous. 

“Ah I see, well I feed on blood so I don’t require more than my two fangs since I only need to puncture my prey not chew” It feels a bit weird to speak as if he actually hunts when he really just sticks to blood bags but he guesses this type of language is what Hongjoong is used to. 

And he’s correct as Hongjoong nods and seems content with his answer, wrapping his arms back around his neck. Seonghwa takes that as his cue to restart the walk to his house. 

The walk is quiet for a while as Hongjoong stuck his head in the crook of his neck, rubbing his face in it and cheerily chirping. Seonghwa finally grasps the possible reason Hongjoong has continually clung to him this entire time. 

“Are you cold?” 

He gets a nod and a sad whine in return. 

Seonghwa, in answer, tightens his hold on him and picks up his pace, thinking about possibly needing to turn up the heat in his house. He doesn’t feel temperature so he’s unsure how cold his house is. 

Once they make it back to his house -and after he struggles to hold Hongjoong with one arm long enough to open the front door- he makes a beeline towards the thermostat and turns up the heat. 

“Sorry if it’s cold in here, I don’t feel temperature so I can’t tell” 

Hongjoong just nods, still snuggled into his neck. Once he’s done fiddling with the thermostat -he realises he’d forgotten how exactly they work from disuse- and turning up the heat he takes Hongjoong to the first floor bathroom and sets him down on a small stool he kept in there, making sure the sheet still covered him decently. Though Hongjoong himself didn’t seem all that worried about accidentally flashing anyone, too busy looking around the room curiously. Seonghwa just lets him be as he gets started on the bath. 

“Would you be okay with bubbles in your bath?” 

When he gets an affirmative noise back, he pours the solution in. Bubbles are not only nice and soothing, he’d also figured that if Hongjoong needed any help they’d both feel better if his modesty was protected by the bubbles. 

After getting the bath ready he realised how lucky it was that this bathroom had a bathtub that was built into the ground, Hongjoong would most likely be able to get into it on his own despite his weak legs. He would still make sure he didn’t need help. 

“Do you think you’ll be able to get in on your own if you’re close enough?” he waits for Hongjoong’s eyes to settle on him before gesturing towards the bathtub. Hongjoong’s eyes flitted to the bathtub and nodded his head. Once getting confirmation he gently pushes the stool Hongjoong is sitting on close to the bath and turns around to give him privacy. He keeps his back turned until a few seconds after he hears the tell tale splash of something plunging into water. 

“Sorry if this is insulting to your intelligence but do you know how to bathe yourself?”

Hongjoong doesn’t seem offended as he nods. 

“Okay well I’m going to go find you some clothes. I won’t be long so if you end up needing help just sit tight” Seonghwa makes to leave but not before turning back one more time just to make sure Hongjoong is okay. 

He goes upstairs to his room and shuffles through the clothes in his walk-in closet, attempting to find clothes small enough they wouldn’t hinder Hongjoong’s movement at all he seemed to have enough trouble without giant clothes getting in the way. He settles on a short sleeve shirt with a collar that wasn’t too loose and some old pajama shorts that had a drawstring to tighten the waist. He neatly folds the clothes then proceeds to go back downstairs, stopping by his laundry room to grab a couple of dry towels before heading back to the bathroom. Once in front of the door he decides it’s only right to knock and ask if it’s alright to to go back in. 

“Hongjoong, I’m back with your clothes and some towels. Is it alright to come in?” 

He gets an affirmative hum and opens the door. 

However, the shock he gets when he opens the door and properly focuses on Hongjoong is immense and causes him to scramble not to drop the clothes and towels he’s carrying. 

Hongjoong is still sitting in the bathtub covered up to his neck in bubbles. That’s not what’s shocking however, sticking out of the tub there seems to be a. . .fish?. . .tail? It was massive and a pearlescent taffy pink. 

Seonghwa likes to think he has above average intelligence, the kind that doesn’t just come from living a long life. But it takes an embarrassingly long time for his brain to stop malfunctioning and put two and two together. It isn't a random loose fishtail, it’s attached to Hongjoong. Hongjoong is a mermaid. When it finally clicks he feels a bit stupid for not realising sooner, the hints were all there. Well, besides the fact that Hongjoong had legs until minutes ago. Mermaids don’t have a secret pair of legs that they can use to walk on land, despite some myths. Although now he’s wondering if there was some credence to those myths.

He finally stops gawking and coughs to end what must have been an awkwardly long silence if the growing look of confusion on Hongjoong’s face says anything. 

“Sorry about that, I had no idea you were a mermaid and you can imagine the surprise of suddenly seeing a mermaid’s tail where there wasn’t one before” 

Hongjoong grins obviously amused and nods. 

“Though now that I know what you are, I think I can help and by that I mean I know someone I think can help you.” 

He continues after he sees that Hongjoong’s interest is piqued. 

“I have a sea witch who’s a close friend and he also happens to live next door.”

Hongjoong perks up at the words sea witch. 

“Ah, so he would be able to help?”

Hongjoong fervently nods. 

“Okay I’ll go call him- wait I have a cell phone, I can simply call from here.” Seonghwa sometimes forgets cell phones exist, the way he forgot home phones were a thing the first couple of decades after they were invented. Having to be constantly reminded by friends he no longer needed to send letters to reach them. 

He takes his phone out of his pocket and swipes on San’s contact to call. 

“ _ Hello? _ ”

“San, hello. Um listen I have a situation on hand that I need help with and I think it’ll be easier to explain in person and it needs immediate attention. Think you have time?” 

“ _ Yeah of course, I’ll be right over. _ ”

-

San is nodding along to whatever it is Hongjoong is somehow telling him. Seonghwa only knows they’re communicating and that San was not just nodding like a lunatic because Hongjoong was using a lot of gestures so he must be saying something even if he never opened his mouth. 

He looks a bit like a teacher Seonghwa randomly thinks, with his match suit made of brown tweed and his golden wire rimmed glasses. 

After a couple of minutes San turns back to him. 

“He’s got quite the story, tells me he’s been wanting to leave the sea for quite some time, reasons are private for now. Unfortunately he didn’t know there was a sea witch so close to his colony and opted instead to do a spell that would grant him legs and a human glamour as long as he wasn’t in water for an extended period of time. There are spells that permanently make someone human but one, those require the caster to have high magic concentration and two, he didn’t want to be human per say just wanted to leave the sea. 

Mermaids, while magical by nature aren’t natural spellcasters so all these types of spells that completely change your biology even temporarily require something vital to be given in return for the spell to work, a payment if you will. He thought his ability to speak was the most expendable and chose to exchange that” San chuckles before continuing. “Though now that he knows there had been a sea witch that could have done it all for free he’s quite annoyed and now he’s stuck being unable to speak.” 

Hongjoong pouts to affirm what San is saying. 

Seonghwa can’t get the curiosity tickling him to leave so he finally decides to ask. “If I may ask, how do you know what he’s saying? I’m guessing you’re reading his thoughts?” 

San nods “Yes that’s it. Normally I can’t actually hear a sea creature’s thoughts even with my connection to the sea, it’s more like I can almost  _ feel  _ and then interpret their strongest thoughts. However to help strengthen that ability I imbued these sea glass earrings with a spell that lets me hear their thoughts properly, well the ones I’m allowed to hear anyway” He pulls back a bit of his wavy black hair and shows off a small pair of deep green dangly earrings smoothed down into small spheres. 

Suddenly San’s eyes light up, as if he’s had an idea and now he really looks like a teacher. “Seonghwa, you are taking in Hongjoong right? Because while his plan to get out of the sea was surprisingly thorough the same can not be said about his plan after getting out which was just worrying about it when he got there.” 

He can hear Hongjoong huff in the background as he himself nods. The plan had been to house Hongjoong until he figured out what was going on and helped him, just because the plan was now confirmed to be long term didn’t mean that would change anything. 

His sea witch friend claps his hands “Then I can give you similar earrings for you to wear so you can communicate properly with Hongjoong. However since you’re not a magic user let alone a spellcaster, Hongjoong will have to wear a pair as well. That alright with you?” he turns to ask Hongjoong. 

Hongjoong lets out an affirmative hum. 

“Great, it’ll be like a walkie-talkie between you two though one that only works one way. Hongjoong, you won’t be able to hear Seonghwa’s thoughts and Seonghwa will only be able to hear the thoughts you want him to. I’ll have them by tomorrow, so you’ll just have to continue communicating the way you have until then.” 

Seonghwa smiles, relieved “Thank you so much for helping.” 

San shakes his head “It’s no problem, I should probably be getting home now. Yunho’s waiting for me back at home and I don’t want him to whine about being abandoned.” 

He winces “Sorry, did I interrupt date night?” 

“Oh no, he just clingier the closer to the full moon we get.”

“That’s good but you have to admit it’s kind of hard to tell if you’re dressed formally or not, not everyone’s everyday dress consists of matching jackets and pants made of tweed,” Seonghwa jokes.

“I don’t think the walking out of fashion black void has any right to talk,” San quips back. 

Seonghwa chuckles “Touche.” 

San waves his goodbye and heads out of the bathroom. 

Now that they’re alone again he turns his attention back to Hongjoong who seemed to have tuned out of their conversation now playing with the bubbles that were miraculously not melted away. He does however immediately perk up once Seonghwa shifts his position to lean against the sink. 

“Looks like we’ll be living together for some time, I guess I should welcome you.” 

He overdramatically bows down, smirking as he hears Hongjoong’s giggles “Welcome to my not so humble abode for the foreseeable future.” 

He lifts himself back up to the sound of Hongjoong’s clapping, both of them bursting out laughing once they made eye contact. 

**Author's Note:**

> Aaaahh hope that was good!! ><
> 
> Positive feedback if you liked it would be nice ;-; 
> 
> If you want kind of sparse updates on my writing, though I am trying to get better, you can follow my writing acc on twitter @berryhongie.


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